buck_nekkid

Really? I get that people are upset with how we have gone this year, but dragging the Lever trade out again? Goodness, find something else! I think we made an absolutely perfect set of decisions bringing May and Lever to the club. With a top flight full back and a great intercept defender, we will have the makings of an excellent defense. This will be a cornerstone of what we need to go all the way. To trade in young players and only have frost and Omac back there, and JWags (we had not drafted Hore at this stage), it was an obvious weakness. Find the best available and get them - and that is what we did. This year was a blowout. ACL and then recovery means we have not seen his best, but it is there. Put him in a side where he doesnt have to be 1:1 key defender and the freedom will change him up again. The trade is DONE. Move on, would you, already?

We were done on the wings because they spent the day playing a man off the back of the square to run cover across defence, whilst a defender hit up into the square. This left a winger down. Jones was often the man starting on the back corner of the square, leaving their winger free to do as he liked. The Pies also set up at contests with one man out the back (or side) to act as receiver. We are like labradors chasing a tennis ball. We had no run off half back mainly because they slowed the ball down and looked for terrible options. Some OK switches, but too often all they had was a kick to a poor contest up the line. Even when options were there, poor skills or going too slow cost us outlets.

Any of the Manangatang under 11’s available?

We were awful. Collingwood were bad, but we were worse. THis was not a game for the ages, but a game to get through. Our defense was pretty good early. May was top shelf, and to deny those sneaky goals that the Pies normally run through with strong defensive efforts was pleasing. Not much else went right. Fritsch up forward was good, but the conversion from set shots was appalling. Did we really have 9 marks inside 50 to 3 qtr time and I think we were 1.6. Appalling, after solid build ups. OMac did OK. A high half forward role could actually suit him. Hibbard was a train wreck today. The inability to hit a target (he had 3 and managed to kick it straight to a Pies player) was an absolute embarrassment. Jones and Viney were well below par, Gawn was neutralised, Salem below par. It honestly looks like a 17th ranked team Poor skills, Poor application, no idea how to work together or what others in the team were doing. TIme for some personnel to have a break, theme for others to be gone. We are dreadful. Pies will need significant talent back to beat anybody of note. They stopped in the 4th,a dn we still could barely stay competitive. Please, can wee win the off season and have a good 2020?

No late changes. Anyone else think we are going in way too tall for the putrid conditions?

Gil is a priority p(r)ick.

Are we trying to have the slowest and oldest wingers in the comp - maybe ever?

Seems to position them and their brand in trading/options, so probably not such a bad promotion. In the end, it is a form of gambling, so nothing more abhorrent to this than the million gambling and odds ads shoved down my neck each week.

It is a nice thought, and I will be more than annoyed if 1 and 2 go to GCS. But the AFL can ‘get away with it’ because: 1.GCS are a basket case 2. Melbourne, who will finish 17th, had a good year last year so not getting pick 2 wont be seen by the wider community as such a crime. 3. We don’t make a fuss, so if they decide, MFC will go quietly. 4. Picks 1 and 2 are ‘good mates’ and apparently (not proven) this will help retain them both. I would prefer to see end of first round, access to state leagues as a priority, or some free agency hand-out. However, I completely expect us to get shafted. #3 seems to be OK, though, but 1 and 2 are apparently a class above.

PwC took one look at Kochie and saw ‘failed business’ written all over him. suggest one of their partners has a power [censored]. There is so little commercial value in PwC , it has to be a partner with the love of the club. (never thought I would write power [censored] in a Demonland post.)

If we were relevant: we wouldn’t sell games to the NT we would have a home base we would not allow GCS to get picks 1 and 2 this year. scrutiny would have been applied at round 6, not 20 we would get a fair go or even an armchair ride from the umps ’nuff said?

So Clarrie is 100 times better than Corey? I know it doesnt work that way, but fair enough for mine... Thanks Rusty, always interesting to review. On the plus side, Clarrie and Gawn. When you think that bustling Braydon was brought in to do more than just tap the ball, his score shows he was 5% of big Max in value, and perhaps the biggest fail.

I thought they stopped this? At best, it was end of round 1 or access to state leagues first was the ‘priority’. I would be pizzed if we missed on one of these two at the ‘whim of the quim’. (Gill) after the season we have had.

Interesting analysis, Mr Licious. what is also of interest is when they have missed. The key backs all out at the same time, the forward line now vacant... if you miss one from the starting best 6 on a line, you should have line coverage. When you have May, Lever, Jetta Out at once, or TMac, Weids and Garlett Out at the same time, it stretches beyond best 26. All of a sudden Fritsch is in the backline, Omac is left to lose all confidence. the consistency principle you suggest is one I agree with. We need it in each line, as well as across the squad. so if we take this forward, and we have a relatively uninterrupted preseason, then we should be getting to that point (numbers of games) where it should work for us. Improving 23-28 on the list looks critical to our success.

From here, it really doesn’t matter. The cupboard is indeed bare. may back in. Preuss was an absolute liability, but pies have Grundy and Cox , so who supports Max if concrete mitts gets dropped to Casey? Maybe give Petty a couple of goes to spell max. hore perhaps in, and maybe move Frosty to the wing? otherwise, whoever plays, just stop with the stupid mistakes, the terrible skills and the complete lack of understanding of how to play the game. exit interviews start in 3 weeks....

Some observations: People want to pot Jones, but the number of times team mates handballed to his BOOTS in the first half did my head in. We dont know when to go fast, or go slow. We seem to use gear changes at exactly the wrong time. We have major issues with decision making and execution. Our tackling is pathetic. They change direction and it is like keystone cops. We have limited speed on the park. Our ability to win contests within 30 m of the goal line forward or back is almost zero. In our back half, we give up scores. In our front half, they just waltz out. Preuss was an absolute liability. Gave away stupid frees in the ruck, cant mark, cant pick the ball up. A liability out there. Oscar Mac was terrible. Really really terrible. WTF was that throw in that their ruck kicked for a goal? Half distance, and Preuss trialled the contest by 3m. We have some talent that can build. Petty, Baker, Dunkley all did good things at times, In a great team, they would look awesome. Max rules. Simple. The end to this year cannot come quick enough. We were in it until half time, and then let ourselves down. (special mention to the atrocious umpiring, not that it would have really changed much.)

Reasons to go: 1. Drink Beer at ridiculous prices. 2. Have a 1/50,000 chance of winning a car, which will be 1/100,000 as I am not a young female or person that will look good in the promo material, so I actually have no chance. 3. Catch up with mates 4. Cheer an odd moment of Melbourne play here and there 5. Get an Oliver cup. Never got any of the others, I’m really stretching here... 6. Practice my Dali Lama calmness tolerating nuffti Richmond bogan d-heads. Especially on the public transport home.

What, sell the circus to buy the clown? nope. If we could get him at a decent price, ok. Last year, even with Hogan out, we scored heavily. Putting Crusty McFlopper up front isn’t going to help much. There are other issues to fix, here. Once we do, he would be cream (expensive cream) on top. He is not the saviour, he is just a very naughty stager.

ANB OUT...who would have predicted that? (Err...everyone for the last 3 months). Shame May doesnt get up, but looking after him for the longer term comes first. We have so much to improve to just be competitive. Everyone will expect us to get spanked. Set up and play faux-tough, and then get absolutely pantsed on the turnover. It is a struggle to see how we will kick a competitive score, and even harder to see how we stop them. OMac just doesnt man up, Frost doesnt think when he disposes of it. No Nev, Hibbard looks at half pace. Im glad they sell beer.

My hope is it is purely a precaution: We are responding to what has happened to the swimmer by being ultra-cautious. I’m sure we will get a lot more testing now (red flag to the ASADA bull), but *hope* there is nothing to see, just good governance to remove an identifiable risk....

What? Did I miss something???

We need to build our brand inside the club. When this happens, it will start to be apparent outside the club to the media and others. This has been a terrible year, and on top of all of the excuses, I think the heat is now coming in regard to skills and style - quite reasonably given pre-season expectations. Keep piling it on. The bigger the hurt, I hope the bigger the lesson. With all of the young players, I hope they are learning that you are not top 4 until you make it so, and you have to HURT to get there. It is not simply being chosen by media pundits. When they learn and go back to basics, and build what we need inside the club and become ruthless about executing the skills and plan required, I believe things will turn around. We deserve the kick, and I hope it helps the players feel the ‘darkest hour’ so they build resilience and desire to get to, and stay at, the top.

Preuss is not the ‘magic bullet’. He is a big lump of a lad, who is learning his craft under the best in the biz (Max). He can dominate at Casey, but we need him to be elite. He has shown at AFL level that he can be a tap ruckman, and in the first quarter he can kick a few goals. His game has to go to a whole new level in terms of his around the ground or forward craft so he his not just a one trick pony. We are carrying too many ‘passengers’ at the moment. I think he might be one or two years away from what we want him to be. I think he will be a bit player at AFL level (and dominate in the VFL against sub-standard opposition) until he really gets to work and steps into his potential. We are really stretched forward, so he might get a gig. We will need May and Frost on Lynch and Riewoldt, and their defence is built on intercept markers so we Preuss may offer a point of difference in sheer size alone. We have limited marking options up forward, so it is either smith or Preuss. Neither is going to win the game for us, and at best we could hope for a contribution.

Oscar Mac Out, May in. Absolute no brainer. Omac needs another ‘block’, first one did nothing. melksham in, ANB out Hore in, jwags out would like to get a look at Jordon. Preuss? Undecided. If we put him in, he’s gotta mark the thing. Would be a swap for smith. About another 6 should be dropped, but no warm bodies to replace them.

One thing that is so obvious is the sense of ‘panic’. Chaos ball is one thing, but we are now simply playing ‘panic ball’. This panic is leading to a number of significant problems in our game: 1. Multiple defenders flying for a single ball, allowing easy over-the-back goals. 2. Defenders doing inexplicable passes straight to opposition players under no pressure. 3. Ridiculous skills - simply poor disposal, option selection and selling team mates down the river. 4. Terrible positioning, set ups and coverage. The defence of the 40m to 80m out, and through the corridor, was non existent. We panic and get sucked into thinking one step behind, rather than one step in front. 5. The panic around contests means we get sucked into the contest and allow opposition to set up outside and win the clearance. With the dominance of Max, it is so surprising that we are so poor at getting quality exits. 6. Panic means we bomb into the forward line, to predictable spots. This means we have little chance of doing anything meaningful (except run around and panic) 7. Our kicking for goal is completely overtaken by panic. Set shots - too much adrenaline and overthinking. In game play - we panic and do that extra handball that brings us undone (what an absolute farce that is!). Whatever skills our players have is completely destroyed by this panic. We go to water with any opposition pressure (notice what happened when Ratten picked up the phone after our first three goals and said ‘smash them in the contests’?). We simply are too SCARED to be a decent football team.